Football girls score win but still sidelined

Helen Taylor, Emily Stanyer and Penny Cula-Reid after yesterday's VCAT ruling. Football Victoria will decide next month whether they can take to the field again with boys.
Picture: Shannon Morris

A Victorian judge yesterday lifted the age at which girls can be excluded from playing football in mixed teams from 12 to 14.

But three girls, aged between 14 and 16, who mounted a landmark legal case against football associations last year, will have to wait for Football Victoria to decide whether they will be allowed back on the field with boys.

In a test case for junior sports, Justice Stuart Morris, president of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, ruled that it was legal to ban girls aged 14 and over from playing with boys because of differences in strength, stamina and physique. He said it was now up to Football Victoria to decide whether to let the trio play with boys in the coming season.

But the decision heralded a win for girls under 14. Justice Morris ruled that one of the girls was unlawfully excluded form the mixed under-14 competition.

Previously, under Football Victoria rules for female participation, girls could only play in mixed teams until the age of 12.

Helen Taylor, 14, a key ruck, Emily Stanyer , 15, a full-back and Penny Cula-Reid, 16, a winger, were fighting a decision of the Moorabbin Saints Junior Football League and Football Victoria to ban them from the under-14 and under-15 competitions.

"I wish to make it clear that I am not giving my endorsement to a rule which excludes girls from under-15 football," Justice Morris said.

"Rather my decision is that it is lawful for a football association to adopt and apply such a rule. For my part, the decision as to whether girls play under-15 or even under-16 football should be left to the girls themselves."

Football Victoria will consider the tribunal decision at its board meeting on March 2. Chief executive Ken Gannon said that the organisation would do all it could to ensure girls 14 and over had the opportunity to play football. "We will be making a decision on a policy basis, not on the individual three girls," he said. "We hope their love of the game is not limited only by the love of the game when they play with boys."

Mr Gannon said that irrespective of the eventual decision, the three girls could play from today with the Victorian Women's Football League.

While no evidence was heard concerning the intentions behind Football Victoria's regulations on female participation, Justice Morris said the notion that females needed to be protected by football associations belonged in another age. "Put simply, such an approach is sexist, even when well-intentioned," he said.

Penny, who would have played her 150th game this season, said that if she could not play footy with the boys, she would turn to soccer.

"We've been through a lot and if a player has a skill to play football, then why shouldn't they?" she said. "We have the skill, we have the passion, we have the heart that we wanna play, so why not just allow us to play?"

The girls said they were happy the door was now open for girls under 14 but said the women's league was not an option because they preferred the roughness of playing with boys.

Clair Edwards, 12, who attended the hearing yesterday and plays football at Banyule, was delighted with yesterday's decision and was not intimidated by playing with the boys. "It's really important because I really love the game," she said. "I can kick five goals in a game against them (boys)."

Justice Morris warned that the law might need to be revised as boys could no longer be lawfully excluded from under-13 and under-14 girls' sports competitions, such as netball. He said an undesirable effect would be the potential to discourage girls from playing competitive sports.

Justice Morris invited written submissions from the public and sporting organisations by March 26 on whether a legal exemption should be granted for any sports that may be adversely affected by boys' participation at under-14 level.